The Comparison of Effects of Orientations between Social and Charity Entrepreneurships on Different Aspects of Poverty with an Emphasis on Mashhad Supportive Organizations

The present study was conducted to compare effects of social entrepreneurship orientation with charitable orientation on various aspects of poverty including income poverty, social exclusion, ability poverty, vulnerability and inter-generational poverty. In this research, service recipients of social entrepreneurship institutes were compared with clients of charity organizations. Questionnaire survey containing 91 questions is selected as a data collection method. The “Living Standards” Questionnaire was used to measure different dimensions of poverty. Cronbach's alpha of all questionnaire subscales was higher than 0.7. The questionnaires were given to 143 service recipients of seven institutes with a social entrepreneurship orientation and 156 service recipients of eight charity institutions in Mashhad. The research findings reveal that service recipients of social entrepreneurship institutions had a significantly better situation than charity clients in different dimensions of poverty (needs of life poverty, health poverty, residence poverty, absolute poverty, relative poverty, inter-generational poverty, vulnerability, social exclusion and ability poverty. Social entrepreneurship reduces inter-generational poverty as well as breaks the cycle of poverty. Results indicate that employment regardless of the economic aspect (the improvement of individual welfare or household income), socially extends individual circle of inclusion circle as well as reduces the risk of isolation and social exclusion.